Viking Blood

by Griff Hosker

  The next two drekar had seen my manoeuvre. They had opened a wider gap. They intended to allow me to pass and then attack ‘Crow’ . The one closer to the shore was the one with the crudely carved horse’s head. The one to steerboard had the best prow of any of the ones we had seen. It was painted a variety of colours and actually looked like a dragon. It had red eyes and the carver had given it a tongue of flame.

  “Erik I want you to head for the horse’s head drekar. As soon as they move swing us around so that we can cross the stern of the one with the flaming tongue.”

  “Aye Jarl Dragonheart!”

  “Archers move to the prow. We will see if we can make this drekar an easy target too.”

  Our speed was such that the slightest of movement on the steering board seemed to make us jink across the water. The carved horse also made a severe move but it took them directly into the wind and she almost stopped. When we were a hundred paces from her I shouted, “Release!” We all sent arrows in their direction. “Erik now!” We managed three more showers before we moved out of range.

  Our approach to flaming tongue would be a risk. If the Saxon ships could increase their speed they stood a chance of grappling with us. As we sailed south and west I saw that ‘Odin’s Breath’ had also closed with the first drekar and ‘King’s Gift’ was heading for the one we had just attacked. The flaming tongue drekar moved further north and west so that they were not sailing into the wind. I wondered if we would be able to rain arrows on them too. They held shields above the helmsman. There was a sudden movement and Aðils Shape Shifter raced up the fore stay. He had a Saami bow. He placed one foot on the sheerstrake. I wondered why he had done this. Then I saw why. He had a better angle. The arrow flew straight and true. The helmsman died and he fell on the steering board.

  Unfortunately for us the move brought his bow towards us. Under full sail it was all that Erik could do to avoid a direct collision. Oars were sheared and men cried as our two drekar came together with a crack like thunder. Wood ground on wood. Their prow scraped along our side. I discarded my bow and grabbed my shield. As I was putting on my helmet I saw the prow of the drekar coming for us. I thought we had escaped and then the tongue of flame fouled our backstay. We were entangled. If we cut the back stay we would lose the sail. If we lost our sail, then we would be as good as dead. When Arne Eriksson shouted, “The Saxon ship is closing with us!” I feared it was all over.

  There was no time to think. We had mail and we were armed. We had to strike. “Erik Ironshirt have your men defend against the Saxon. Erik Short Toe, chop off the tongue. Ulfheonar! Board!”

  I did not wait for them. I grabbed the backstay and launched myself over the prow of the enemy ship. There were no warriors there and I regained my feet before the rowers on the larboard side had realised that they were being boarded. I saw one oar had speared two rowers. Both barely alive they were entwined in a mess of blood and entrails. I swung Ragnar’s Spirit sideways as I moved towards the mast. My blade bit into the neck of a warrior who was rising from the second chest. I pulled it out and lunged at the one who had shared an oar with him. I stabbed him in the neck.

  Behind me I heard an axe as Erik‘s crew tried to chop away the offending tongue. Then there was a roar as Olaf Leather Neck led my warriors to follow me aboard. In terms of numbers we were totally outmatched but we had mail, shields and my men were the best. We fought men whose shields still hung from the side and most of whom did not wear mail. Many were encumbered by the wreckage of the oars and their dead comrades. Even so, it was a glorious charge by my handful of men.

  One Viking swung his axe at me. I blocked it on my shield and brought my sword over to bite into his shoulder. Haaken shouted, “To your right, Jarl Dragonheart!”

  Instinctively I backhanded my sword and it clanged into that of a warrior who had risen from a pile of wounded men. I brought the edge of my shield around and smashed him in the face. As he staggered I sawed my sword down his blade and across his throat. Bright blood spurted over the wounded. As I headed towards the mast I was aware that I was wading through bloody sea water. The strakes had sprung. The ship was doomed!

  Erik shouted, “We are free! Back! The Saxon is closing!”

  “Back!”

  Olaf and Rolf walked forwards towards me and swung their axes hard. Men fell before them. Cnut Cnutson and Erik Bjornson leapt to the sides and hacked at the fore stays. Olaf and Rolf reached the mast and both swung their axes twice. Arrows hit their mail but did not penetrate. There was a creaking and then the back stays pulled the whole mast towards the steering board. As it crashed down we scrambled back to ‘Heart of the Dragon .’ Grabbing the ropes thrown down to us we had just made the deck when the Saxon ship loomed above us and Saxons began to pour on board. As we reached the deck I saw a gap appear between us and the flaming tongued drekar. The crew were too busy trying to save her to bother with us. We, however, now had the crew of a large Saxon ship to deal with.

  Even as I hefted my shield around I saw Erik Ironshirt and Thorghest throw themselves at the Saxons who dropped down from their higher ship. I saw that the Saxons wore no mail. Thorghest and Erik sliced through the legs of the first four warriors. It bought me the time to organise my men.

  “Ulfheonar, on me!” Erik Ironshirt and his men had formed a double line of warriors and were holding the enemy. They had boarded us from the bows. And that suited me. “Aðils and Beorn, get up into the shrouds and use your bows. Take out their leaders.”

  Arne Eriksson shouted, “’Crow’ has taken one drekar. ‘King’ and ‘Odin’ are heading for the second Saxon and Harald.”

  I had no idea what had happened to the other drekar. One was sunk, one damaged doomed to sink and one taken. What of the other? I put it from my mind. “We attack the Saxons who have boarded from the flanks. Olaf and Rolf, hole their bows!” I only had a handful of men left but they were the best. “Charge!”

  We ran at the Saxon flank. Bergil Jorgenson had just been slain when we hit them. Haaken and I struck at the same time. I heard a Saxon voice exhorting his men to slay us. The Saxons were struggling to keep their feet on our pitching deck. They were trying to fight as they did on land. We fought with our feet wide apart and we did not take long swings. We stabbed and slashed more than they did. They tried to balance and could not.

  The thegn waved his sword towards me and shouted for his men to follow us. A gust of wind caught our sail and made the drekar lurch, alarmingly. The two men next to the thegn fell and he flailed his arms to keep his balance. Our two swords almost chopped the mailed Saxon thegn in twain. Punching his body away we both thrust, almost blindly, into the mass of Saxons before us. We were rewarded with flesh. A Saxon standing on the bows of their ship hurled a grappling hook. It snaked over our heads and bit into the shoulder of Mundi Mundisson. He was a big man but the hooks bit through his mail and into his muscles. Roaring in defiance he pulled hard on the grappling hook. The surprised Saxon could not keep his footing and he flew through the air, landing on the backs of his comrades.

  Mundi’s oar mates took their vengeance. The grapnel thrower was hacked to pieces along with the men he had knocked from their feet. We now had the upper hand and we began to move closer to Thorghest and Erik Ironshirt who were relentlessly driving the leaderless Saxons back to their own ship. A tough looking Saxon lurched to his feet. He had been one who had followed the thegn. I had my sword stuck in the body of one his comrades and so, as he stood, I smashed the boss of my shield into his face. He tumbled backwards, unconscious. I could hear Olaf and Rolf’s axes as they hacked into the bows. The captain must have realised he could not win and the men who remained aboard began to use oars to push us apart. Some of those who were still on my ship tried to jump back aboard before it was too late. Two made it. Eight did not.

  The ones who were still alive shouted, “Surrender! We surrender!”

  Ten were slain before I managed to restrain the Angry Cubs. “Hold! There may be a use for them!” I ran to the
bows. I saw that the last Saxon was being caught by my two drekar but Harald was sailing south. The damaged drekar was following him. The undamaged drekar was also racing away. We had won.

  Chapter 15

  The Saxon ship with the holed bows did not try to make for the open sea. The captain headed for the coast and he barely managed to beach her. Only her bows made the sand before she began to fill with water. I was tempted to land and capture them but my other two drekar were still pursuing the last Saxon and I was anxious to speak with my son and grandson. We knew where Harald would be going and we would follow.

  “What do we do with the captives?”

  “Bind and hold them.” I looked around and saw that ’Crow’ was moving away from the drekar. The enemy ship was sinking.. “Have the decks cleared of the dead and see to our wounded. Angry Cubs, you did well. It is an honour to fight alongside you.”

  Erik Ironshirt was bloody. His arms had been badly cut. “Aye Jarl Dragonheart, that was a fight worthy of a saga!” He pointed to Thorghest. “My men have paid a price.”

  I wandered over. There was a great deal of blood and I could see that his thigh was gashed open. “How is the wound Thorghest?”

  “It was that whoreson of a Saxon.” He pointed to a Saxon whose head was almost severed from his body.” He stabbed me in the thigh with a seax!”

  Erik Ironshirt said, “You have had worse. In a week you will back to your old self.”

  I turned back to look for the drekar of my son and grandson. I saw ‘Crow’ getting under way. The drekar she had fought was settling in the water. She must have been badly damaged in the fight. Already the waves were lapping along the sheerstrake.

  Arne shouted, “They have the other Saxon, Jarl Dragonheart. She looks to have surrendered.”

  “When ‘Crow’ gets here we will join them.”

  I walked to the Saxons. My men had been less than gentle when binding them and I wondered if they regretted their surrender. I knew their thegn was dead, I had killed him. One of the Saxons had many warrior rings adorning his arms. He had been the warrior I had smashed in the face. I saw that I had knocked teeth from his mouth and broken his nose. I guessed that, had he been conscious, then his men would not have surrendered. I walked up to him. When I spoke Saxon he looked surprised.

  “What is your name?”

  “Gurth, son of Garth.”

  “Who was your thegn?”

  “Alfraed of Gleawecastre.”

  “And you are his warriors?”

  “When you raided our land King Egbert was angry. Our thegn promised to bring back your head. He came with four of his brothers. You slew two when you left the Viking island.”

  “And the other two?”

  “The Welsh slew them when they attacked our ships. The line of Alfred’s family is ended.” I nodded. “What will you do with us? Do we have time to ask forgiveness from Lord Jesus before you end our lives?”

  The Saxons had gone from warriors who had died with their hands on their swords to Christians who surrendered and then asked for forgiveness to enter heaven. I could not understand it. “I know not. If you are to be slain then it will be a warrior’s death. You fought well. But I have not yet decided.”

  “That is honest. Thank you for that, at least.” He shook his head, “I know not how any fight on the deck of a pitching beast such as this. The Devil himself must be a Viking and he helps you for you managed to slay without falling over.”

  “We are Vikings. We fight at sea.” I pointed to the shore. We could see the survivors from the Saxon ship hauling her ashore. “They will struggle to repair her. You may have companions soon.” An idea was forming in my mind. I would wait until we were all together before I broached it. “Tell me, did your Viking ally, the one who fled, leave men on the island?”

  He nodded and spat a gob of blood from his mouth. “Aye, the black hearted coward. He is no Viking! He calls himself great but he should be called Harald the Black Hearted.”

  “Did he leave men there to defend his walls?”

  “He did. When the survivors came from Hibernia they brought two drekar but they did not have many warriors. They were full of their families. They are in the big port in the middle of the island.”

  That would be Duboglassio. “How many were there?”

  “I do not know.” He shook his head. “You may kill me because you do not like my answer but it is the truth. We were sent to the tiny place at the north to allow Harald’s dragon ships to tie up to the quay.”

  “You will not die for speaking the truth. I hear your words and I hear no lie. What will you do now Gurth son of Garth?”

  “If we live?” I nodded. “With Thegn Alfred dead I have no lord. He was rich and he could afford to hire warriors to guard his land and to protect him.” He shook his head. “We did not do a very good job, did we?”

  “You said it yourself, you were not fighting on the land. The men of Wessex do not have the ships to fight at sea.”

  “If I live, Jarl Dragonheart, then I will find a farm as far away from the sea and the wolves of the north as I can! I will build a wall around me and dig a ditch which will keep you at bay! I am an old warrior. I should have sons and a woman to cuddle next to at night. I have had enough of war; I have seen enough deaths.”

  I saw that he was serious, “Tell me, when the ships came from Dyflin, were there two people who were accorded special treatment? An older man and a woman?”

  He nodded, “Aye, you would have thought them a king and queen the way they disported themselves. They were housed in the hall of this Harald the Great.”

  I nodded. I now knew where Wighlek and Vibeke were to be found and this time there would be no escape. My mercy would not extend to them. I had a hard death planned for both of them.

  Olaf Grimsson drew alongside. Both captains furled their sails to allow me to speak. Ulf Olafsson walked to the side. “You did well, Ulf. Where are Ragnar and Gruffyd?”

  “Your son was wounded, Jarl. He lives but Ragnar is healing him.”

  I forced myself to be impassive. He was wounded. He was not dead. “Did you lose many men?”

  “There will be empty hearths but we slew more of them. We took great quantities of mail and treasure from them before we cast their sinking hulk adrift. They liked to wear their wealth about their arms. The families of our dead will be recompensed for their losses.”

  “It is over here. I have plans but I wish us all to return to the shipyard first. Aiden can heal the wounded better than those on our wooden dragons.” In truth I worried about my son. I knew that if we pursued Harald there was a chance that we might catch him soon after he landed. We would have more opportunity to kill him. However, we had left with under crewed ships. When I attacked Harald and ended this war I wanted the best and the fittest of warriors. “Take ‘Crow’ home. We will join you.”

  “Aye Jarl Dragonheart. Your son and grandsons also have hearts which belong in a dragon. They fought well. You should be proud.”

  I nodded, “I have been proud of them since the day they were brought mewling and screaming into the world. Thank you.” As their sail was lowered and they began to turn I said, “Erik head for the shore. Keep watch for our other drekar.”

  The wind still aided us and my men did not need to row. Haaken and Olaf Leather Neck came to join me at the stern while my men watched the prisoners who were seated around the mast. “What is in your mind, Jarl Dragonheart? Do we follow Harald and end this? He has but two or three drekar left.”

  “I would Olaf Leather Neck but we have prisoners.”

  “We could slay them.”

  “We could but we will not.”

  “You are not becoming Christian are you, Jarl Dragonheart?”

  “No, Olaf Leather Neck. I would release these men and let them sail home. Their words of our victory will hurt King Egbert more than the loss of his ships and thegns for these men will talk when they drink their ale. We will become larger, more fierce. We will become more numero
us and better warriors. Instead of thinking of ways of bringing their war to us they will look to defend themselves. Men will no longer willingly go to war with Vikings. They will find easier foes to fight.” I shrugged. “It may not work but I cannot see it harming us and besides, they fought well. They were badly led but they jumped aboard our ship, did they not and were ready to fight us? That takes courage.”

  Haaken pointed to the shore. “And those?”

  “The same. And those on the ship which Raibeart has just captured. Then we will return to the shipyard.”

  Haaken laughed, “Ragnar’s Roost you mean.”

  “Ragnar’s Roost?”

  “Since your grandson has married and built his hall they say he struts like a young cockerel in the farmyard. It is what they call the shipyard. They mean no harm.”

  I laughed. “It is wyrd . A warrior who cannot laugh at himself is doomed to a miserable life for the Norns make fools of us each day. I am not offended.”

  “We do not say it before Ragnar. He is young and he might be upset. To his face, we call it Ragnar’s home.”

  “Aye well we return to Ragnar’s home. We will see how many men we have to end this war. If it is three drekar then good. If it is two then that is what we shall take. I have learned that he has more men in Duboglassio. It will be better defended and he will flee there.” I paused. “And I have learned that Wighlek and Vibeke squat there.”

  “Then we can end this.”

  We had closed with the shore and I saw the Saxons there preparing to flee. We hove to and awaited my drekar and the second Saxon ship. I waited until the two drekar were within hailing distance, “Have you lost many men?”

  “No, jarl. And we have prisoners. If we did wrong then we will cut their throats.”

  “No, Asbjorn. You have read my mind. Keep the Saxon ship here and then ‘Odin’s Breath’ can return to the shipyard. We will bury our dead and then plan our next move. I will go ashore.”

  “Aye Jarl Dragonheart. A great victory.”

  “Perhaps. We shall see.” I turned, “Release Gurth son of Garth. Ulfheonar, we go ashore. Erik Short Toe, tell the other Saxon ship to beach herself. Have our prisoners transferred there. We will tow her off.”